wfn.org | Episcopalians: Carey celebrates anniversary of ECUSA's youngest seminary

[dmack@episcopalchurch.org]

May 10, 2002

2002-117

Episcopalians: Carey celebrates anniversary of ECUSA's 
youngest seminary

by Ronda Carman

(ENS) On a sunny, cool September morning in 1976, on the campus 
of Robert Morris College in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a small 
group of Episcopalians celebrated the birth of a seminary for 
leaders of the evangelical renewal movement within the Episcopal 
Church. No bishops appeared, as one participant noted 
wryly--except for the seminary's founder, retired Australian 
missionary bishop Alfred Stanway. But the speakers expressed 
great optimism for the future. The Rev. Peter Moore, then 
chairman of the board, assured the audience that if the new 
school spoke "God's truth with love," the church and the world 
would listen to Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry (TESM).

On May 3, 2002, at the request of Bishop Robert Duncan of 
Pittsburgh, George Leonard Carey, archbishop of Canterbury, came 
to Ambridge, Pennsylvania, to celebrate the school's 25th 
anniversary. It was the first time in the history of the Diocese 
of Pittsburgh that an archbishop of Canterbury had come to 
Western Pennsylvania. 

Trinity, a seminary that began with 17 students, has grown 
steadily to approximately 175 full and part-time students, a 
full-time faculty of 12, and over three dozen adjunct 
professors--including experienced missionaries, youth ministry 
leaders, a historian of Christian art and a noted renewal music 
leader. As of fall 2001, over 350 ordained graduates served 
parishes in 73 dioceses of the Episcopal Church and more than 20 
overseas dioceses and missions.

Christian leadership

In a lecture to more than 300 seminarians, faculty, alumni, 
friends and clergy, Carey spoke on five characteristics of 
Christian leadership, drawn from his study of Paul's first 
letter to the Corinthians. "It is clear from his [Paul's] 
correspondence with that difficult and exasperating' church 
that it was in many ways a body of believers not unlike us 
today," Carey commented. 

First, he said, Christian leaders are called to embrace a 
"magnificent cause." The Christian, as described by Carey, is 
one who is able to show the way because he or she has first met 
someone who is the way--the Lord himself. "I am delighted that 
just two weeks ago at Canterbury, the primates of the Anglican 
Communion said in a statement on the doctrine of God: We 
believe that God the eternal Son became human for our sake, and 
that in the flesh and blood of Jesus of Nazareth God was 
uniquely present and active.' The statement is a full-blood 
recommitment to the historic faith of the Church. It is the 
start of all discipleship and the heartbeat of leadership," he 
said.

Second, he said, Christian leaders are driven men and women. 
"Now be warned!" Carey stated. "I am not using driven' in the 
pejorative sense of one whose behavior is compulsive or manic. 
The word passion' comes closest to what I mean," he added. 
Carey reminded the audience that no seminary can instill in 
people love, affection and a desire to promote the way of 
Christ. However, he pointed out, "a [seminary] can certainly 
influence and shape the successes or failures by making it a 
place of faith, hope and love."

The third characteristic of Christian leadership, and one 
that drew the most applause, was holiness. Christian leaders are 
to be "unashamedly holy men and women," Carey announced. 
Although holiness is not limited to sexual morality, that is 
where the church feels the conflict now, he said. The Bible 
teaches that "intimate sexual acts should be expressed in the 
committed relationship of husband and wife. All other forms of 
sexual behavior are deviations from that norm.

No slamming doors 

"I have made clear firmly, but I hope charitably, that this 
is my approach to homosexual relationships. I also see it as the 
right moral setting for considering heterosexual relationships, 
where there can be a profound impact on the essential stability 
of family life and the environment for children," he said. 

But being clear about what is right and wrong does not mean 
slamming the door on those who are not ready to accept church 
teachings, Carey added. "If I as an individual or the church as 
a body is compelled to say 'no' to some practices, we can still 
establish strong links of understanding, friendship and care for 
those whose lifestyles are different from ours," he said. 

Next, Christian leaders are eager to include all people. 
Leaders must be a "disciple" of the one who suffered death on 
the cross for all humanity and will embrace others and include 
them in whatever way possible. "I find in St. Paul enormous 
insight to the human condition. Of course, the epistle to the 
Romans is, par excellence,' the place where we must go to find 
the sublime depths of Pauline teaching," Carey stated. 

The fifth and final characteristic Carey called "visionary 
leadership." Such leadership, he said, is not a grandiose and 
larger-than-life "caricature of leadership" but rather one which 
sees "new possibilities and dares to reach forward for new 
possibilities."

Ending division

Those attending the celebration included some who have left the 
Episcopal Church because of concerns about perceived theological 
liberalism, including former Trinity dean John Rodgers, now a 
bishop of the Province of Southeast Asia associated with the 
Anglican Mission in America (AMiA). In an interview, Carey said 
he has great respect for Rodgers and sympathized with his 
motives and those of others like him, but urged conservative 
Episcopalians not to consecrate any more irregular bishops. 

"I value what they are doing. I know it comes out of a 
sincere desire for the love of God and sometimes out of deep 
depression because they think the mainstream church has left the 
truth of God behind," Carey said. "I value them as fellow 
Christians and I just want to find ways in which we can bring 
them back into the mainstream of the church again. It isn't 
going to be easy. Every time a small group splits off it weakens 
the church as a whole, but I believe that these groups can find 
ways to work within the regular structures of the Episcopal 
Church," he declared. 

Looking ahead

Carey publicly stated that he feels certain this is the right 
and proper time to stand down as archbishop, and looks forward 
to exciting opportunities and challenges in the coming months 
and years. So why is now the right time? "There is good reason 
for my retirement," Carey affirmed. "The next Lambeth Conference 
is in 2008. By leaving now, I am giving my successor five years 
to prepare. If I retired in 2005, I would have only given my 
successor three years to prepare and it is not fair," Carey 
added. 

And what is it that lies ahead for the archbishop and Mrs. 
Carey? "I can spend more time with Eileen, who has sacrificed so 
much for my ministry. Together we can spend time with our large, 
happy family, and sweep up our grandchildren and take them away 
to Disneyland or somewhere nice like that," he answered.

------

--Ronda Carman is director of communications for the Diocese of 
Pittsburgh.